Fri, 24 Dec 2004

Except for worship, prisons lack holidays

Asatru got a small mention in this article on holiday celebrations in prison. Better yet, we were described accurately (if succintly):

Worship services were held Tuesday for the Asatru Yuletide, the winter solstice for Asatru practitioners. Asatru is a neo-pagan or "earth religion" based on the ancient beliefs and gods of pre-Christian Scandinavia.

They even got Wicca right:

Also Tuesday, a service was scheduled for Wiccan inmates, who celebrate their Winter Solstice on Dec. 21. Wicca, often mistakenly equated with witchcraft, is a neo-pagan religion derived from multiple pre-Christian beliefs by a British civil servant in the 1930s.

It's always heartening when mainstream media reports don't categorize minority beliefs with racists, cults, human sacrifice and Satanism. We're often as thankful for what's not said about us as we are for what is.

At the Lompoc federal penitentiary, the week of Christmas is barely recognizable from any other week.

(link) [Santa Maria Times]

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